President Joe Biden is in frequent contact with local authorities along the hurricane’s estimated course and is keeping a close eye on Hurricane Ian as it heads toward Florida.
The storm is expected to land in the United States sometime before the end of this year.
Hurricane Ian is still a Category 3 hurricane as of Tuesday afternoon. However, the storm’s wind speeds increased marginally to 120 miles per hour after dropping when it touched down over western Cuba.
Ian is anticipated to continue strengthening later on Tuesday and upgrade to Category 4 before the day is out. As a result, Florida is expected to be affected on Wednesday.
At a Tuesday speech on reducing healthcare costs, Biden stated from the Rose Garden, “(The) prediction may change, but for now the experts believe this could be a very serious storm, life threatening and a terrible effect.” “The government is prepared and working to assist the citizens of Florida.”
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White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted that Biden met with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday night “to discuss the efforts the Federal government is doing to assist Florida prepare for Hurricane Ian.”
“The Governor and the President pledged to maintain tight collaboration,” stated Jean-Pierre
According to Jean-Pierre earlier in the press conference on Tuesday, Biden had separate conversations with the mayors of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater.
In a subsequent statement, Biden said that the mayors he had spoken to were “focused on the safety of their communities and they’re doing all they can to get people out of harm’s way.”
In a statement, the President said, “I told everyone of them in my talks individually, anything they need – I mean it genuinely, whatever they need – contact me personally.”
Deanne Criswell, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, also said on Tuesday that she had spoken to the governor on Friday at the President’s request.
“On Friday, I met with Gov. DeSantis to learn about his top objectives for the response and preparation measures and his key concerns. As a result, president Biden on Saturday approved Gov. DeSantis’ request for a pre-landfall emergency declaration as we started mobilizing men and resources immediately. This ensured that we could begin supporting the governor’s concerns as soon as they were communicated to me, said Criswell.
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The President told me to get in touch with the governor before we implemented the decree, she continued. So I did.
My regional administrator is with the governor to ensure that we understand the demands and that our attention is on the immediate life safety requirements that must fulfill.
Criswell noted that during their talks, Biden enquired about the mayors’ requirements and the status of their cities’ mandatory evacuation orders.
Throughout his speech, Biden stressed that Florida residents should heed evacuation orders and pay attention to local authorities because their “safety is more important than anything.”
“I’m sure that everyone who this storm will impact is in our thoughts and prayers. And we’ll be there for you at every turn, he said. “We’re not leaving,”
Criswell said that she also had phone conversations on Monday regarding probable storm implications with Georgia and South Carolina governors.
The slow-moving storm is anticipated to send a “devastating quantity of water” to the Tampa Bay region, according to Castor, who said on Tuesday that the prognosis for Hurricane Ian’s impact on the city “hasn’t altered a great lot.”
The President “simply wanted to make sure that we had all the resources that we needed and obviously wished us the best,” according to Castor, during the conversation with Biden and Criswell.